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Vampire Ltd.
Vampire Ltd. is a short story written by Czech science fiction writer Josef Nesvadba. It was published in 1964 as part of a collection of short stories in the book, Vampires Ltd. Plot Summary Vampire Ltd. follows the story of a narrator who travels from his home in Prague to England, in order to attend a business conference with his friend. Right off the bat, he notices about Western Europe that there is a sort of "Automobile Invasion" that is occurring among the people living in the area. He describes the sheer amount of cars he had encountered and stories of the people he has spoken to who are well-versed in knowledge about cars. He describes three of his first encounters with cars in England. The narrator's first encounter with cars occurred when he was flying from Prague to England, and he met a fat Irishman who spilled his artichokes on the elevator on his way to their flight. He spoke with this man on the plane and learned that this man was a representative from a car company in England. The man went on to brag about his company's cars and passively berate the cars owned by the narrator's friend. The narrator's second encounter with cars occurred when he had arrived in England and he was looking for his girlfriend's house. He emerged from the subway terminal in hopes of finding someone who could direct him to the street in which his girlfriend lived. Instead, he saw completely empty sidewalks and everyone on the road in their cars, oblivious to his presence and any question he may have directed at them. The narrator's third encounter with cars was described as the most bizarre of the three. He was staying in his girlfriend's house and had spent the night staying up and drinking with her, and as a result, overslept and left his friend waiting for him. When he arrived at his friend's hotel, he discovered that his friend had already left for the train station, leaving the narrator completely stranded with no money and resources. Feeling desperate, the narrator decided to hitchhike his way to his conference in Bolster. Eventually, a strange, tall, pale man with whiskers asked him if he needed a ride and the narrator cautiously said yes. They both drove for some time before the pale man stopped the car, stumbled out, and told the narrator that he could drive it himself to Bolster. He told him that he still had business to do in the city, and he would arrive in Bolster the next morning to retrieve the car. The narrator reluctantly agreed and carefully drove off towards Bolster. On his way there, people stared at him as he was driving because they were marveled at how nice his car's model was. The narrator eventually picked up a girl named Susan who was hitchhiking, and they both stopped at a filling station to get some tea. A lady at the station approached the narrator and began to ask him about his car. She turned out to be the Marchioness of Nuvolari, the wife of a famous racecar driver. She challenged the narrator to a race because she believed that her car was superior, and the narrator agreed. They both set out onto the slightly empty freeway and took off racing. The narrator was determined to prove the Marchioness wrong, and he steadily accelerated until he won the race. After he won, he steadily stopped the car and as Susan hugged and kissed him, he passed out across the seat. After the narrator woke up, it was nighttime and Susan pointed out that he had a large sore on the bottom of his foot. The narrator was perplexed as to how this sore got there, because he had gotten a medical examination in Prague right before he left for England, and there had not been anything wrong with him. Subsequently, the narrator did not believe Susan and attempted to get up. His head reeled upon sitting up, causing him to stumble his way out of the car. He opened up the hood to look at the car's engine, and instead of discovering a regular engine, he found a oval-shaped contraption with two large pipes stemming out of it. He then returned to the dashboard to test the car and see if it would run if he put his empty shoe up to the accelerator. This didn't work, so instead, he poked the accelerator with his finger. Upon doing this, the car jumped forward and the narrator received a small sore on this finger. It was at this time he discovered that the car was powered on human blood, and that if he continued to use it, he would have died. He decided to abandon the car on the side of the freeway and walk to the nearest inn so he could contact his partner in Bolster. Susan insisted that she accompany him, and the narrator reluctantly agreed. Eventually, the two had an argument which resulted in Susan being lifted onto the freeway and picked up by another driver. The next morning, the narrator finally arrived at a town. Coincidentally, this town was called Georgetown, the town in which the blood-sucking car was made. The narrator remembered the inscription on the brass plate in the car which told him of the address of the original manufacturer and his name, James Stuart. He visited Stuart's property and found an agent working in an office. Her job was to maintain the property until she could sell it off to someone. She explained that Stuart had been dead for a long time and the Great Depression caused him to go bankrupt, causing him to lose his property. Stuart managed to finish his last car before the bank came to take his property, and he rode off once his property was gone, never to be seen since. The narrator was amazed at this story and found that the car that Stuart manufactured was the same one that he had received from the pale man. He told the agent that he knew where the car was and handed her the keys as she tried to convince him that he could be rich if he tried to make money off of racing that car. He refused to risk his life by using that car and waited in Stuart's yard to make a call to his friend in Bolster. As he was calling, the Marchioness of Nuvolari found him and approached him about buying the car off of him. The narrator warned her of the car's dangers and she brushed it off, saying that she didn't care whether she would be risking her life to drive the car and that it would just make matters simpler for her. The narrator handed her the keys, realizing that people continued to drive the dangerous car only because they wanted to be ahead of everyone else. He then got a ride in the Marchioness's old car, which took him to Bolster. He met up with his friend and carried on with his conference, reflecting back upon his experiences with the blood-sucking car. https://d2l.arizona.edu/d2l/le/content/563364/viewContent/4977158/View References